Wow - I haven't even clocked up 6 months with Optus and I've got a complaint into the TIO.

This is an implausibly bad customer service story - I'd love to know how many others have encountered this warmth and efficiency...

Mon 16/6/16

After my S6 Edge's camera died (not even a factory reset helped), I took it back to the retail shop where I signed up for a warranty claim (Murray St, Perth).

The replacement was back in 4 working days (yay!) - but its screen was damaged. They promised to expedite the replacement for the replacement so I'd have it back in 1-2 days. These things happen, right?

Weds 18/6/16

I called the shop to see if it was in, they told me the original replacement hadn't been picked up yet - and couldn't tell me when it would. When I expressed disappointment, they told me to phone Customer Care.

After several phone calls and hours, the nice people from the call centre told me that they had no visibility of nor ability to intervene in whatever process the shop had initiated. But they promised to escalate it to the Customer Relations Group, for priority attention (i.e. in less than its standard 7 day response time).

They also told me that is impossible me to contact these folks directly, except by post. They don't have a phone number or email address. This is a bold and novel approach to Customer Relations.

Thursday 19/6/16

All those hours on the phone yesterday must have made some impact - the guy from shop phoned this morning to tell me that he had arranged for the damaged unit to be picked up today - 4 days later than promised! If he was expecting a high five from me for this stellar performance, he was probably disappointed.

Another call to the call centre was a Groundhog Day time waster - all of the same impotent excuses, unfulfilled promises and absolute lack of interest in recognising creative problem solving.

Given everything I've experienced and learned about Optus in the last few days, it seems inconceivable that anyone is actually accountable for monitoring customer sentiment through forums such as these. I pity the relevant segment manager who is accountable for keeping and growing business like mine, while his retail and call centre colleagues are doing an awesome job persuading me to take it anywhere else at the earliest opportunity.

This has been a truly shameful example of fundamentally broken customer service. I thought the telecoms industry discarded the brute force and ignorance approach in the 90's.

Apparently I was wrong, Optus. It's quite amazing how bad you are at this stuff.

I am so sorry for your experience. Your feedback is highly valued and is important to us. We will make we pass it on the the Yes Optus Murray St, Perth and apologise on their behalf for the inconvenience.

Please send me a private message with your details. I am more than happy to look into this for you and contact you.

I sympathise with you - I have been sending emails to Optus (via their complaints & compliments page) for months with NO REPLY AT ALL !! All I want to do is set up a direct debit which you would think they would be happy to arrange - but NOoooooo - despite attempts to call (I am not prepared to wait for half an hour or more on the phone for anyone!!), I have not received ANY response from Optus. I agree that their so-called Customer Service is DISGUSTING !!!